


Pippa's History: Princess Firefighter

by Miss_Von_Cheese



Series: Pippa Coulson, SHIELD agent [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Homophobia, Misogyny, Trans Character, kid Coulson, trans woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-30
Updated: 2013-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-25 03:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/947950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Von_Cheese/pseuds/Miss_Von_Cheese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How little Pippa "met" Captain America when she was a kid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pippa's History: Princess Firefighter

There were angry voices behind the door, the voices of Mom and Dad, and Phil didn’t understand what was going on. Why were they so angry at her for borrowing Mommy’s lipstick? She would have taken care of it and would have returned it as soon as she was done! She wasn’t a thief, she just wanted to be pretty like Mom. She wasn’t a thief. She was a princess. And a firefighter.

The voices got louder then softer, muffled by the distance as her parents walked away from Phil’s room. The kid got out of her bed, tiptoeing on the cold floor, and sneaked out of her room to try to hear what they were saying. But she didn’t understand why it was such a big deal: Mom didn’t like when Phil touched her stuff but she didn’t say a thing when she played with Dad’s tools, and she taught her to share her toys with her friends, that sharing was important and nice.

“… but you really gotta be careful how you raise him!” Dad growled. “He’s gonna end up like this creepy guy across the street, Angelo. I knew it was a bad idea to let a fag move in the neighborhood!”

Phil blinked and couldn’t help chuckling despite the terrifying atmosphere in the house that night: she had just pictured Mr. Angelo in a cigarette costume and the idea was the funniest thing ever.

“I don’t know if Angelo is gay,” Mom replied. “Okay, he’s a dancer so he probably is but what do you want me to do? I already forbid him to take my stuff and play with little girls, what more can I do?”

Phil heard the sound of Daddy’s favorite bottle opening and a liquid was poured in a glass, the kind of sound that made you wanna go pee pee.

“I don’t know, Norma. I don’t know. Just… get him some toys for boys, something that’ll be a good example for him. He just started reading, get him some comic books perhaps? Not those dark knight kind of things, Wonder Woman, Batman… the CCA say that’s immoral. Get him Captain America, that was what I would read as a kid, there are good messages in there!”

“You’re right. He’s a patriot, a real man,” Mom approved. “Perhaps that would motivate him to finally act like a boy… but I don’t know if he’ll take them, I’ve already tried small soldiers, he never touched them.”

“Captain America is not a small soldier,” Dad sighed softly. “He’s the soldier.”

They were silent for a few minutes and Phil finally decided to go back to her room, wishing she hadn’t heard them, wondering why she was feeling so miserable and why she had no one to cry on. What can you do when your mom is the one mad at you? You can’t even run to her and let her comfort you. Phil wanted to say she was sorry, sorry for disappointing her parents, sorry for not being the one they wanted but she didn’t understand what she had done to make them so furious. She snuggled under her blankets, holding the only stuffed bear she had saved from Mom’s last raid on her toys -no more plushies, they’re for babies and girls!- and wiped her tears. _Jesus please, I need a friend. Can you send me a friend? Someone I can talk to and who won’t call me a weirdo everytime I try to play with them. Please, I’ll be good._

 

A few days later Phil was playing in her room, in front of the mirror, spinning with open wide arms to pretend she had one of those beautiful dresses princesses had on TV, when Mom called her to the living room. Phil jumped, knowing that she would be scolded if she was caught playing like a girl again, and ran to see what was going on. Mom patted the couch she was sitting on to invite Phil to join her. She had several strange items in her hands.

“Here, darling,” Mom smiled as she handed Phil a couple of books, a card and a strange tiny doll. “Since you started reading we decided, Dad and I, that you could own comic books now. But not these extremely violent books we can read nowadays, they are not suitable for good little boys like you. Have you ever heard of Captain America?”

Phil shook her head, not daring to open the books yet.

“Well, he’s a hero. A great man! He saved the world during the War…”

“Like Grandpa?” Phil asked.

“We can say that, but even stronger than Grandpa… he’s brave and he does what’s right. He fights against bad people and saves damsels in distress. He’s a model for all Americans because he represents freedom and justice. You understand me, Phil? You have to take care of these books, I’m not gonna buy you a new one if you tear it up.”

Phil nodded even though she didn’t really understand. She tiptoed to kiss Mom’s cheek and quietly went to her room, holding the precious items in her small hands. It all seemed too expensive for her, too adult. She wasn’t sure she would actually enjoy reading comic books, she wasn’t close to all those boys who spoke gibberish as they talked about their favorite superheroes. Yet when she finally took a look at the pictures, the covers of the books -bad printed comics that seemed as precious as a Bible to her-, the beautiful card and the doll, the first time she actually saw a male doll, Phil was struck by this Captain America.

He was… a prince. A real prince. He had a helmet with wings on it (!), a shiny armor and a shield, and instead of a stupid horse, he was riding a motorbike! Phil planted the doll in front of her and started flipping the pages. Captain America, now that was a cool prince! He was awesome, he saved the ladies and killed the bad guys. And he said he hated bullies too! He was strong and brave, and he fought villains, that was even cooler than fighting fire. Phil looked at the handsome smile on the card, a reassuring face like this could only belong to a good person. A man who would be a good friend even if girls and boys didn’t get along very well.

Phil spent the afternoon reading the adventures of her new hero and at night she insisted to keep the doll next to her, to save her from monsters. She also stuck her only trading card on her wall next to the picture of Mary and baby Jesus so that Captain America could save them from the devil. And when she finally drifted off, her action figure still in her hand, she dreamed that Captain America showed up at her school to protect her from all these kids who hit her when she tried to play with girl’s toys, he hid her behind his shield and saved her, just like he did in comics. But he didn’t kiss her on the mouth because princes who do that to princesses are frankly disgusting, ew!

The next week-end, Josh and Norma Coulson were sunbathing in their yard when they saw Phil cutting long stripes of paper and coloring them blue and red, leaving some of them white.

“See, I told you it was a good idea!” Josh told his wife when Phil gathered all of his stripes and ran towards the house, announcing that he was going to play in his room. “He’s fond of the star spangled banner, perhaps will he fight for the flag one day?”

Phil climbed the stairs, closed the door of her room and made sure Mom and Dad were still in the garden. She placed Captain on the edge of her chair so that he could be ready to play with her, then proceeded to stick the stripes under the belt of her pants, one red, one white, one red, one white, until she could see them move like a mini skirt when she spun around. She rolled the blue ones around her hands and wrists to mimic gloves and started singing softly as she danced. She had no idea of what the song was supposed to sound, she only knew a few lines from the comic and she invented a tune but the Captain seemed happy when she lifted him to show how he carried the flag ‘shore to shore for America’. Phil smiled as she pressed her friend on her heart. Captain America. Her prince. The only one who was never mad at her. She kissed his helmet with a grateful “Thank you!” and kept dancing for as long as her parents were busy. Truth was that Mom was right: Captain America was her freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is sad, I was super sad myself to write it don't worry! She’s still named Phil at this point because she’s too young to have developed her identity the way she wants it, she just knows she’s a she. She’ll accidentally get the name Pippa later. -Also sorry for the quick doodle, I really didn't have time to finish them.-


End file.
